Three Beautiful Things 12-30-2024: Shoveling Snow Without Injury!, Appreciating Frothy Milk, Rian Johnson is Sly

1. With my eyes, I'm really lousy at determining snow depth. We had a moderate snowfall overnight. Was in four inches? Five? Six? More? Less? I don't know.

I do know it was wet snow.

And heavy.

For Christmas, Christy gave me a set of special snow shoveling socks and a pair of gloves, so I put those on when I got dressed and with only slight trepidation, I shoveled. 

Why the slight trepidation?

I spent a few months not doing any lifting, as the transplant team ordered, to protect my transplant surgery site.

Since then I've lifted some boxes, maybe some other lifting, but nothing as heavy as this snow was today. 

Is the site fully healed? 

I mean, it's been nearly seven months. 

I guess it is.

I shoveled our sidewalks and Christy's. 

Nothing tore, popped, bulged, or collapsed.

I think I can freely, without worry, continue to keep our walkways cleared of snow. 

2. The milk heater/frother I purchased has two milk transforming attachments, both tiny implements. Depending on whether I want heated milk with a moderate amount of foam or frothy, very foamy milk, I use one attachment or the other.

Today I heated milk for my morning espresso drink and it was foamless.

The attachment I've been using to make moderately foamy heated milk had disappeared. 

I searched the kitchen counters, floor, sink, and even the garbage container.

It's gone.

I ordered a new set of attachments and now I'm learning how to enjoy the more frothy and foamy milk -- which, when I first bought this appliance, I didn't think I enjoyed so much.

Now I do. 

I will be happy to have the replacement attachment available when it comes in the next week to ten days, but discovering that after my initial rejection of it that I do, in fact, enjoy this frothier way to heat milk makes me more happy than I suppose I ought to feel for such a small detail in my life! 

3. I returned home from Yoke's with what I need to make a vegetable side dish for our January 1st prime rib family dinner and retired to the bedroom (where the Vizio resides now) to watch another episode of Poker Face. 

I'm starting to get something: Rian Johnson is a sly and fun-loving filmmaker. 

In the first episode of Poker Face, we see Charlie and Natalie watching Pulp Fiction on a tablet.

That brief, somewhat inconsequential moment was, I think, a signal from Rian Johnson that he would be using the rewind method of story telling featured in Pulp Fiction in his telling of each new episode of Poker Face. (Just as he had done in Glass Onion and Knives Out [right?]).

I'm also learning that Rian Johnson likes fire. I can't remember if fire came into play in Knives Out. Nor was there fire in the first episode of Poker Face. 

Fire, however, was central in episodes 2, 3, and 4 of Poker Face and was a big deal in Glass Onion. 

What I really enjoyed in the 4th episode of Poker Face was how the story introduced two apparently inconsequential and, for me, forgettable details as the story developed that turned out to be crucial to the story's resolution. 

Bringing these two details into prominence made me laugh with pleasure. 

I loved the jolt they gave me. 

I'm also enjoying how much these Poker Face episodes involve electronic devices and how savvy Charlie Cale is at using them, along with old-fashioned means of detection, to figure out the truth about each episodes death/murder, always contrary to the official story. 

I'll close these comments by saying I thought Chloe Sevigny played this episode's desperate aging metal band leader and singer, Ruby Ruin, with chilling perfection and, so far, with each new episode, I admire and enjoy Natasha Lyonne's work more and more, especially as she portrays  Charlie Cale's huge heart, the affinity she feels for underdogs (literally in her care for the unruly pup in Episode 3!). 

P.S. Warning! I'm about to write a small spoiler!  As Episode 4 about this washed up metal band unfolded, the movie Spinal Tap popped in my mind. Soon afterward, Charlie Cale refers to Spinal Tap in a conversation with Ruby Ruin. I thought that was sly. Another jolt of pleasure! 

And I know a ton of the slyness is going right by me. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-29-2024: I Hear From a NY Filmmaker About *Conclave* and There's More, *Glass Onion* is Wild, An Unruly Dog on *Poker Face* Opens Everything Up

1. I had a particularly satisfying day with the movie Conclave today.

No, I didn't watch it again. 

But, a New York filmmaker, a person I do not know, nor  had I heard of, named Loren Christiansen, saw what I wrote about the movie on my blog via Bluesky, where I post a link to my daily blog post(s) every day.

Loren Christiansen made and posted on YouTube, a most illuminating video about the movie from a filmmaker's perspective with special emphasis on lighting, cinematography, and how specific moments in the film were shot and related these artistic aspects of the movie to the movie's theological and ecclesiastical content. He also included salient analysis of the acting in the movie, with special attention to the genius of Ralph Fiennes. 

And, having read my blog post, Loren Christiansen posted a comment to me on Bluesky, telling me he thought his video would add a fourth beautiful thing to my existing list. He posted me a link. He told me that he bet I'd enjoy it. 

He was absolutely right. I loved his video and his analysis and when I told him so, he responded that he was "happy to have contributed to your happy birthday." 

He did.

Coincidentally, in our phone conversation on December 28th, Diane Schulstad raved about a video she had watched about the making of Conclave, but we got sidetracked and she didn't mention who made it and she got busy with other things and didn't send me a link to it. 

Well, it was Loren Christiansen's YouTube video she had watched. After I watched the video, I confirmed with Diane that this was the video she referred to in our phone conversation and told her that I'd seen it because Loren Christiansen himself had contacted me on Bluesky in response to my blog post. 

As Loren Christiansen warns in the video, it contains spoilers. 

That said, if you'd like to watch it, here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvTXnwRACt0

That's not all that happened today regarding Conclave.

Debbie and Josh watched the movie on Saturday and Debbie sent me two brief emails with two of the movie's best quotes.

One of them had to do with faith and doubt, a central question in the movie. Debbie told me she's been saying what the movie said about faith and doubt for the last ten years.

I mildly disagreed.

To my memory, she has been articulating how faith and doubt walk hand in hand for the entire twenty-seven+ years we've known each other.  

In fact, when characters in the movie addressed this question, immediately I thought of discussions Debbie and I have had over the years about the power of doubt in relation to the power faith -- these have been superb discussions. 

2. Today was the third straight day I spent with Gibbs and Copper in our house with only the slightest of human contact. On separate occasions, Carol or Paul came over to scoop out Copper's litter box and I shopped once at Yoke's, but otherwise I was alone and never lonely.

I've enjoyed and felt very fortunate to live in our little warm and comfortable house. These days have been restful, relaxed, and quiet, great for my sense of peace.

With the volume on low and with the help of subtitles, I watched the second of Rian Johnson's Blanc Benoit mysteries, Glass Onion (Knives Out was the first).

What a wild movie! Intrigue. Duplicity. Murder. Bending of reality. Excess. Hilarity. Exposure. Hypocrisy.  Sycophancy. Betrayal. Greed. And more. 

It's a chaotic movie swirling with all the things I mentioned above and while people all around him are losing their minds, we get to enjoy Daniel Craig as Blanc Benoit floating above the fray and maintaining his sane and rational detective mind and soul. 

I totally enjoy Daniel Craig in everything I've seen him in.

3. I rested a bit from Rian Johnson and then plunged back into his mind at work by watching the third episode of the first season of Poker Face.

I know in my rational mind that the star of Poker Face, Natasha Lyonne, really doesn't have much in common with the late great Adrienne Shelley. 

For some irrational reason, I keep seeing Adrienne Shelly when I watch Natasha Lyonne play Charlie Cale on Poker Face. 

Tonight's episode upset me because it featured an unruly dog and I feared for the dog's life. 

As it turned out, the episode's plot and Charlie Cale's breakthrough in figuring out that the death of pit master George was a murder and not George's suicide turned on what happened to the dog in the story. 

I'll leave it at that except to say that Charlie Cale's affection for the episode's unruly dog moved me to love Charlie Cale more than I had before -- and made me think that if the role were played by Adrienne Shelley (RIP), she, too, would have cared deeply for the dog. I KNOW IT! 

Three Beautiful Things 12-28-2024: Ring! Ring! It's Bill and Diane!, Revival's Northwest Breakfast Tea, I Watch Some *Poker Face*

1. Just as I was getting ready to write my Saturday blog post this morning, the phone rang.

Bill and Diane called to wish me a barely belated happy birthday.

This turned out to be much more than a happy birthday call!

It was a more than ninety minute refreshing and stimulating discussion mostly centered on movies and streaming television programming. 

To my utter delight, Bill and Diane watched Conclave a couple of weeks ago and we had just what I love to do most a day or two after seeing a movie: we had a positive discussion about all the aspects of this movie we enjoyed, ranging from the the ways the makers of the movie lit and shot the movie, the beauty of the cinematography, the admiration we had for the movie's actors (the men and Isabella Rosselini), and the vibrant topics regarding the Church and doctrine, women, sexuality, tradition, and the challenges of modernity. 

I wouldn't say I needed to talk about the movie so much as I had been hungry to listen to others' responses, especially positive ones. I did offer my two bits, especially about the question of God's handiwork, but what I really enjoyed was listening to Bill and Diane and having my experience with this movie both reinforced and broadened.

It was kind of wild that alongside this discussion of Conclave we also talked a lot about Columbo and the genius of Peter Falk in this show and in other movies he made. 

Diane has been on a Columbo binge lately and she and Bill knew that Debbie and I went on a similar binge some time ago.

The Columbo discussion opened the way to talk about Rian Johnson and his show on Peacock, Poker Face. It's a Columbo like show focused not on who done it, but on how will the murder mystery be solved. Poker Face features Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale, a casino cocktail waitress who has the ability to immediately tell when people lie. 

I'd read about Poker Face. Now I knew I had to look into it and I knew that before long I would have to watch Rian Johnson's second Knives Out movie, Glass Onion. 

Talking with Bill and Diane, recalling how much I loved seeing them back in March and how much I loved seeing Hugh and Carol and Peter and Mark on that same visit to Seattle left me longing to get back to Seattle again as soon as possible to see them all again -- and, who knows, maybe I'll get to see other people I know in western Washington, too. 

2. Because Christy and Carol knew that I wanted to spend my birthday in almost total solitude and because Debbie flew to New York on the day of her birthday, they gave us gifts in advance of our birthdays at family dinner on December 16th. (They gave Debbie her Christmas gifts, too)

So, because of the anti-rejection drugs I take post transplant, I have to be careful about the teas I might drink. The pharmacists on the transplant team have been very helpful in telling me, when I asked, that licorice teas are out as is one of my favorites, Bengal Spice Tea.

For my birthday, Carol gave me a pack of Northwest Breakfast Tea from Spokane's Revival Tea company, a black tea blend of Assam, Ceylon, and Flowery Orange Pekoe that also includes cedar tips (or as the packaging says, pine needles). 

I messaged Gina and Stephanie, the transplant pharmacists, and Gina replied with the good news that this tea was safe for me. 

Today, I experienced what awesome news this was!

I brewed a cup of this Northwest Breakfast Tea to go with another gift Carol gave me, her fruit cake, and the tea complimented the fruit cake perfectly and was a most tasty and refreshing hot drink. 

I've got twenty-three more bags to go! 

3.  I haven't done this for a long time, but at bedtime tonight, I decided to crawl under the covers with Copper at my side, and watch the first episode of Poker Face. 

I learned Charlie Cale's back story. I learned why she lives in a beat up trailer outside Laughlin, NV. I learned why she works now as a casino cocktail waitress.

The episode's story really kicks in when, upon learning her good friend, Natalie, has been murdered, Charlie doesn't accept law enforcement's official story explaining it. 

So she digs. 

Like Columbo, Poker Face features weekly guest stars. Adrien Brody is this episode's primary guest star and he is terrific as the Fredo Corleone-like son of casino magnate. 

Solving this murder puts Charlie Cale in grave danger and she goes on the run in her Pontiac Barracuda.

(Like Columbo, she drives a beat up car of questionable reliability.)

It was getting really late, but I decided I had to watch the next episode of Season 1. 

It was fun to see that one of the guest stars was John Ratzenberger (of Cheers fame).

Once again, this episode opens with a murder, this time in a remote locale in the middle of nowhere -- maybe in Arizona. 

We know who did it. 

Charlie doesn't believe the official story. 

So she digs.

And, as this episode concludes, she is back in her Barracuda, back on the run again. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-27-2024: A Restful Birthday, The Movie *Conclave*, Chicken Stew Dinner

 1. For my birthday today, I wanted a day to myself (well, with Copper and Gibbs, too). 

You see, the week of December 21-27 is always an intense one. Debbie's birthday is on the 21st -- and this year she flew to New  Jersey/New York on her birthday. Our wedding anniversary is December 24th. We've been married twenty-seven years now. Jesus was born on the 25th and Christmas Day in our family extends to the 26th when we have a second day of gift exchanging and at dinner time we gather for our annual international dinner when we eat the food and learn about the traditions of a country Carol chooses. This year our country was New Zealand. 

When my birthday rolls around on December 27th, I'm ready for some solitude. I enjoyed our dinners on Christmas Day and on December 26th, but I wanted less intensity on the 27th.

I spent my birthday in the house. The only person I saw was Carol. Thanks to my kidney transplant, I am barred from keeping Copper's litter box scooped, so Carol dropped in and took care of it this afternoon.

I rested. 

I napped. 

I made a green salad. 

I stared. 

I reflected. 

I looked back on Christy's knee replacement just over a year ago and thought about her recovery. 

I reminisced about family dinners. 

I cherished the memory of twice being asked to officiate services at the Mountain View Congregational Church across the street. In February, I officiated Taylor and Cosette's wedding and, in September, I officiated the Celebration of Life memorializing Don Knott. 

A beginning. 

A farewell. 

I thought a lot about the good fortune I experienced in my 71st year.

Debbie and I enjoyed our 27th year of marriage.

A surgical team at Providence Sacred Heart successfully transplanted a kidney into my lower left abdomen. 

I've recovered remarkably well with no setbacks so far.

It's taken time, but Debbie and I have worked together to make our house a place of deep contentment for Copper, primarily with the addition of a simple pet gate and with me learning, after a miscommunication with a nurse at the hospital, that Copper and I could spend all the time we wanted together in the same room and in the same bed. 

We really, really want to be together. 

Copper's growing happiness and contentment over the last several months has uplifted me profoundly. 

I joined a weekend celebration with longtime friends in western Montana to celebrate our having turned 70 in 2023 and 2024.

I joined a celebration in Eugene of Russell Shitabata's retirement from Lane Community College and, in addition, got to spend time with a bunch of awesome friends in Eugene, with Roger Pearson in Salem,  and with Terry and Nancy Turner in Gladstone. 

There's more. 

Believe me, there's more.

For example, I had a superb weekend in Seattle hanging out with Bill andDiane, Mark andPeter, and Hugh and Carol. On Sunday I got to go to a benefit concert that featured a wide array of Seattle musicians performing songs by Bill Davie. 

Twice I ate Thai food with Colette in Pendleton on trips hanging out at the Wildhorse Resort with longtime friends from Kellogg. 

There's still more. Believe me. 

I take none of this good fortune for granted.  

I am unceasingly grateful.

2. Pretty much on purpose, I've created a gap in my life, especially since about July. 

Because I've been reading so many books, I have not been watching movies. 

That's the gap.

In fact, for the last several months, our television has been unplugged.

Late this afternoon, I plugged it in.

Judy/Sparky wrote me an email recently in which she said, simply, "The movie Conclave resonates."

I responded that I would watch it and tonight I did.

From the beginning, the movie's art direction, costuming, and cinematography riveted me. I especially enjoyed the movie's loving attention to physical details and color in the world of the Vatican. So many of those details are centuries old, iconic, traditional, and enduring.

In part, Conclave is a movie about the relationship between the past and tradition and the fact that the Church functions in an ever changing world. Is it the responsibility of the Church to preserve and enforce, with certainty, the practices of the past regarding vernacular, women, sexuality, world religions and other pressing matters or is it the responsibility of the Church to be elastic, flexible, in an ongoing state of doubt and exploration with a willingness to make changes? 

When the movie ended, I began an hours long contemplation that hasn't ended about the nature of what the newly elected Pope in the movie calls "God's handiwork". 

I can't say more about the movie and "God's handiwork" because I don't want to spoil the movie's plot. 

I'll just say that taken together, the questions the movie raises about doubt/certainty and the nature of God's handiwork have been on my mind for years and this movie got them churning again. 

One last comment about the movie: I love movies that feature actors who are older -- say over about sixty years old. The sixty-four year old Ralph Fiennes gave a sterling performance in Conclave as did the other older actors I came into the movie familiar with: John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini, and Stanley Tucci. So did the several other older cast members who were new to me. 

By the way, my love for watching aged actors work is not a new thing for me -- it didn't start when I got old. I saw Spenser Tracy, Melvyn Douglas, Katherine Hepburn, Gloria Swanson, Bette Davis, Jessica Tandy, Hugh Cronyn, and many other actors give moving and absorbing performances that I loved in movies long before I became an old man myself. 

3. On the days leading up to my birthday, I gave a lot of thought to what I wanted to eat, by myself, for dinner tonight.

I thought about going out, but nothing in the Silver Valley sounded inviting to me -- that's on me, not the restaurants here -- but homemade chicken soup/stew sounded awesome.

I've already described what I did on Thursday to make this stew in a previous post and tonight I heated myself up a bowl.

I am really happy that the changes I made to the recipe worked beautifully. I think I like this stew better without the tomatoes and the noodles are a great substitution for the potatoes. I also like the seasonings I used better than what the recipe calls for. 

I still have plain bagels in the freezer from Beach Bum Bakery and eating one of those toasted went with my bowl of chicken stew perfectly.

Rest. 

Quiet. 

Sleep. 

Copper. 

Gibbs. 

Gratitude. 

Aged actors. 

Theological questions to ponder. 

A delicious chicken stew.

Wow! 

A Happy Birthday, indeed! 

Three Beautiful Things 12-26-2024: I Rested and Napped, Cooking Soup for My Birthday, New Zealand Christmas Dinner

1.  It has nothing to do with whether I enjoy the company of the people I'm with. 

The fact of the matter, though, is that beginning, oh, about twenty or more years ago, I began to be fatigued by any kind of extended time with groups of people, whether family, friends, a church group or the congregation as a whole, (until June of 2014) a classroom of students, or other social situations. 

I need to pace myself -- not avoid people!  

On Christmas Day, I spent about six hours total with family. We had a gift exchange and breakfast and later in the afternoon a clam chowder dinner at Christy's.

I woke up this morning wiped out. 

Before long, I realized that if I were going to enjoy today's five o'clock New Zealand Christmas dinner, I'd have to stay home (pace myself) and not participate in the gift exchange taking place around 10 o'clock this morning when Taylor, Cosette, and Saphire arrived at the Roberts' house from Moscow. 

I rested. 

I napped. 

I got recharged and refreshed. 

It worked. 

2.. Around 3:30 or so, I performed the last step of making the pumpkin soup I cooked on Christmas Eve and added fresh squeezed orange juice to it.

When I had my most recent  blood draw on December 14th, I also shopped at Trader Joe's and bought a whole baby chicken with my birthday (Dec. 27th) in mind.

When we lived in Maryland, I often liked to use a recipe by Mandy Rivers, author of South Your Mouth, to make Tuscan Chicken Stew. 

The recipe calls for boiling a whole chicken to start. 

So I boiled the chicken this afternoon before going to our New Zealand dinner at Carol and Paul's house. 

I left it in the pot to cool while I was at the Roberts' house and, when I returned home, I took the meat off the chicken's bones, cooked a variety of vegetables in the broth made by boiling the chicken, seasoned the broth with Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute and their Everything But the Bagel seasoning, and folded the chicken pieces into the soup. 

 As a result, my soup is peppery, aggressively seasoned (way beyond the recipe), and includes vegetables Mandy Rivers' recipe doesn't include and I excluded potatoes and tomatoes,  two  high potassium ingredients normally crucial to this recipe. I also drained and included a can of kidney beans and a packet of Thai Wheat Noodles -- and I might add more noodles on Friday.

Now the soup will mature through the night and into Friday. I tasted a bit of it before I stored it and I'd say I succeeded in tailoring this soup to my enjoyment of peppery soup with aggressive seasoning and noodles.

I think it'll work. 

3.  Shortly before five o'clock, I joined with our family for our annual international Christmas dinner. Every year, Carol picks a country, researches the country's Christmas traditions and foods, and assigns each of us a part of the meal to prepare.

Paul prepared a New Zealand Christmas Punch for tonight's cocktail and Taylor and Cosette fixed a batch of delicious scallops for our appetizer.

We finished our appetizers and drink. Soon all the food items were ready. We sat down and here's what we had for our New Zealand dinner:

Molly made a Christmas wreath salad, a green salad on a circular plate, that looked like a wreath, and served it with a delicious vinaigrette.

We enjoyed the salad alongside the Mum's Pumpkin Soup I made on Wednesday and completed this afternoon.

Along with the soup and salad, we helped ourselves to Zoe's air fried Maori Fry Bread.

Soon the main dish, Carol's Christmas Ham, appeared on the table with Christy's side dish, Candied Kumara (sweet potatoes) and Orange Gremolata.

We finished our meal with pieces of Zoe's Pavlova, a lemon-y meringue and whipped cream concoction that was a superb way to finish our New Zealand meal. 

The evening of family fellowship continued with photos in front of the Roberts' Christmas tree and with Christy situating Molly, Zoe, Cosette, and Saphire into poses that recreated pictures that had been taken in the past. 

I kept hearing the words "Octagon Mom" repeated, followed by peals of laughter. 

I guess in one of those past pictures they recreated tonight some one -- maybe Molly -- bore a resemblance to whom I was told was, at one time, a woman of pop culture fame, a serial baby bearer nicknamed Octagon Mom. 

Ha! 

I was totally out of it, but the others were having a blast reminiscing, posting, laughing, and recalling the good old Octagon Mom days! 

Three Beautiful Things 12-25-2024: Gift Exchange, Afternoon Rest and Time with Gibbs and Copper, Clam Chowder at Christy's

1. Carol, Paul, Zoe, Christy, Molly, and I kicked off Christmas Day together at the Roberts' house with breakfast (oven pancakes and link sausage) and a couple hours or so of exchanging gifts. I came home with pickles, cookies, socks, gloves, books, a sibling outing calendar, and a Trader Joe's gift card.  I hope I didn't forget anything. 

2. I returned home tired, happy that I had done so much food preparation yesterday for our two days of Christmas celebration. All I had to do until five o'clock was cut up vegetables and slice a Harry and David's summer sausage and put what pieces of food I could on a platter and the rest in a bowl.

Gibbs seems to have fully adjusted to Debbie's temporary absence and we had some high quality time together. He's found a human home, with Debbie away, on my lap. 

It's awesome. 

Copper isn't getting as much of my attention as he's used to, but he's being a good sport, handling his time alone like a champ. 

3. Christy hosted a clam chowder dinner at five o'clock and Carol, Paul, Zoe, Christy, Molly, and I gathered in her living room for some smoked oysters on saltine crackers and a cocktail (I drank fizzy water). We all grazed the vegetable plate I brought and before long plunged into Christy's pot of clam chowder complimented with French bread. Christy fixed dessert bars and gave everyone a nice range of choices for a Christmas-y after dinner drink. 

We all joined in and played a trivia game, Before or After, to close out our chowder feed. Zoe read two events from the past and we were to say whether we thought the first event occurred before or after the second. 

It was a lot of fun, stimulated fun discussion, and was an invigorating way to end a Christmas Day full of gifts, food, and being together. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-24-2024: Swimming in Pumpkin Soup, My Love Life is Complete!, Gibbs Rises Out of the Dumps

1. It took me all afternoon and into the early evening turn a whole pumpkin into twelve cups of chopped pumpkin, chop a couple of large onions, celery stalks, and carrots, and to put the vegetables into our largest Dutch oven and cook them for a while, first in a cube of melted butter, doing my best to cover all the pieces, and then with the spices and seasonings added. 

Next, I covered the vegetables and pumpkin pieces with twelve cups of vegetable broth and simmered them for about a half an hour.

I took this emerging soup off the heat and, about 30-40 minutes later, I buzzed batch after batch in the blender and, PRESTO!, I was ready to refrigerate my assignment for our December 26th New Zealand Christmas dinner: Mum's Pumpkin Soup. 

The recipe reports that it feeds 4-6. We'll have twice that number of people at dinner so I doubled the recipe.  

I think I have enough soup to have a Pumpkin Soup Feed at the Elks Club. 

I'm thinking the recipe writer meant that it serves 4-6 if the only food being served at a meal is this soup with some bread. 

I'll see if Paul has a vat and a two-wheeled dolly on hand that I can use to wheel all this soup into Paul and Carol's house on Thursday! 

2. For our Christmas Day Clam Chowder Feed at Christy's, Christy assigned me some options and I decided I'd bring a vegetable tray with a dip. I had an experiment in mind for making the dip (it's a secret until I blog tomorrow) and I made that dip this evening. 

I'll reveal one thing: to make it, I needed to use my new electric frying pan and I fell in electric frying pan love again! Why, oh, why did I deny myself SEVEN YEARS of life in the kitchen without this old flame of mine? 

I won't look back.

I won't indulge in regret and heartbreak. 

I'll live in the present. 

I'll simply savor the joy of this glorious reunion and feel the warmth of our joyous future together. 

3. Headline: Huge Gibbs Breakthrough Today. 

Not only has he ended his Where's Debbie? Hunger Strike, today, on two, yes!, two separate occasions, Gibbs climbed up on my lap and relaxed so deeply, so contentedly, that both times he fell asleep.

Gibbs will be ecstatic upon Debbie's return in about ten days, but he's definitely made a transition out of the separation from Debbie dumps into being his lively, animated, bark-y, affectionate dog-self again. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-23-2024: Electric Skillet Arrives, Holiday Food Preparation, Simple Chicken Dinner

1. Our new electric skillet (I call it a frying pan) arrived today. I performed the easy assembly. I'll start using it on Christmas Eve (which also is our 27th wedding anniversary).

2. I performed a complete refrigerator inventory so that on Christmas Eve I'll have everything I need to fulfill the assignments Christy and Carol gave me for the Christmas clam chowder feed at Christy's and the day after Christmas New Zealand Christmas dinner at the Roberts' house. 

3. Nice, simple dinner tonight: chicken tenders on top of a bed of couscous with dollops of a Moroccan sauce we keep on hand for dishes just like this one. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-22-2024: Gibbs Improves, Cooking for One, A Little Touch of New Orleans Arrives on the Porch

1. Even when Debbie is home, Gibbs likes to perch himself on the back of the couch and look out the picture window. He seemed less winsome today and he even crawled off the back of the couch and spent some house sleeping on the couch proper. 

He ate. 

He seems to have ended his hunger strike. 

He had a handful of fits of manic barking when delivery people dropped things off in the mailbox or on the porch. 

And, a sure sign he's feeling better, he dashed to the pet gate when he heard Copper using the litter box and hassle barked at him until I swooshed him away, giving Copper free reign to return to the bedroom.

Gibbs' interest going out back is down a bit, but I'm hoping that will get better soon. 

All in all, my life as animal husbandman is going pretty well, so far, while Debbie drinks East Coast Hazy IPAs as well as a Dogfish Head Imperial IPA from Dover, Delaware. 

I am vicariously stoked that she's where she can drink the beers we came to love when we lived in Maryland and visited New York. 

2. My goal in the kitchen during this time of solo dining is to use what I already have on hand, knowing I'll need to make some small supplements. 

Tonight I thawed a single strip of Tri-Trip steak, cut it into cubes, and sizzled the cubes, seasoned with Everything but the Bagel seasoning in hot oil in a cast iron pot. I added green onion to the pot, along with carrot strips, chopped zucchini, and sliced mushrooms. I also cooked a small batch of basmati rice and opened a can of black beans and seasoned them with Trader Joe's Chili and Lime seasoning mix. 

At first, I thought I'd turn this mixture into a stew, but I remembered we had a single flour tortilla on hand, so I rolled the rice, beans, and vegetables into a cheese-less burrito and what wouldn't fit into the tortilla, I ate out of a bowl. 

It all worked.  Beautifully, in fact. 

3. After I finished dinner and was relaxing in the living room near Gibbs, he suddenly erupted into double manic barking.

I realized it was an Amazon delivery! 

A Christmas gift arrived from Adrienne, Josh, Eloise, and Jack. 

I opened the parcels and, to my surprise and delight, the Langfords gave me three boxes of Cafe du Monde beignet mix and a can of Cafe du Monde's French Roast coffee. 

I had beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans back in 1997. 

Mmmm.....unforgettably delicious. 

 I never thought I'd ever be making them at home! 

Now I will! 

I read the cooking instructions and impulsively decided that the best way to fry the beignets in hot oil would be with an electric frying pan.

If you happen to be a longtime reader of this blog, you might remember my love affair with the electric frying pans I owned in Eugene and Greenbelt.

I hesitated to buy one when we moved to Kellogg because of our limited storage space, but this evening  I threw all such caution to the howling garbage can tossing winds of North Idaho and, on the spot, ordered an electric frying pan and it'll arrive on the porch on Monday, December 23rd! 

I haven't decided when I'll combine the mix with water, roll the dough out on a floured surface, cut the dough into rectangles, brown the rectangles in hot oil, and cover the beignets with powdered sugar -- oh! and fix myself a French roast cafe au lait. 

It won't be long. 

This is as close as I'll get to going back to New Orleans now and, who knows? -- maybe forever.  

Three Beautiful Things 12-21-2024: Debbie Flies to Newark, Bread and Muffin at Great Harvest, Gibbs Misses Debbie

1. Debbie had a full day today. For starters, she turned 74 years old. Then, as if that weren't titanic enough, she flew across the country from Spokane to Minneapolis to Newark. She decided, when she made her reservation, that flying first class wasn't that much more expensive, so she made things much easier on herself and flew in luxury! 

Debbie's flight didn't leave until the early afternoon, so we had a relaxing morning and an easy drive to Spokane and around 9:00 in the evening, Kellogg time, Debbie texted me that she was in the LangfordMobile and on her way to Valley Cottage, NY where she'll stay at Adrienne and Josh's until, I think, January 4th. 

2. Predictably, after I dropped Debbie off at the airport, I drove straight to Great Harvest. I picked up a loaf of Asiago Sourdough bread and decided I wanted a muffin, not a sandwich, and enjoyed a gingerbread muffin and a cup of coffee. 

Refreshed, I cruised to Costco in CdA and fueled the Camry and decided that if I wanted to do any other shopping at Costco, Trader Joe's, or Pilgrim's Market, or anywhere else, I'd return in the next couple of days. 

3.  Debbie and I are very experienced at spending time calmly apart -- we've spent many holiday seasons on opposite sides of the country and we've had other long stretches when, for professional and family reasons, we were not in the same place. 

So, we take these separations in stride. 

Not Gibbs! 

Ever since Debbie left, Gibbs has been sitting or lying on the back of the couch in front of the picture window peering out, expecting Debbie's return. 

He's not been his usual animated self. 

He came to life, however, around 4 a.m. and started manic barking. 

I got up to check on him, looked outside, and saw what he saw: a black cat jogging east on Little Cameron. 

Then Gibbs wanted to go out in the back yard.  

I couldn't turn our little ball of (I hope temporary) misery down, but after he'd been out a few minutes he resumed manic barking.

As quickly as I could, I slipped shoes on and went out to see if I could corral him back in the house.

He cooperated! 

Right away! 

To my utter relief, any neighbors he might have awakened could, I hope, go back to sleep.

I'll keep an eye on Gibbs, try to reassure him that things are all right. 

But Gibbs is not a seasoned veteran of separation from Debbie and while I'm a nice enough guy and do my best to look after and comfort Gibbs, let's face it: 

I'M NOT DEBBIE!!! 

Three Beautiful Things 12-20-2024: Remembering Lois Dahlberg and the Dahlberg Family Legacy, A Splendid Luncheon, A Good Evening at Home

1. Today I joined several members of the KHS Class of 1972 and the congregation of other mourners to join in a memorial service paying tribute to Lois Dahlberg, mother of our classmate, Susan Dahlberg. Susan's brother, John, delivered a comprehensive, detailed accounting of Lois Dahlberg's long, courageous life of missionary service, with her late husband, Dr. Keith Dahlberg, in Thailand, Burma, and Papua New Guinea as well as her tireless service to the Silver Valley and to her family and friends over the nearly sixty years she lived here.  

John Dahlberg detailed the inextricable connection between Lois and her father-in-law, Edwin Dahlberg, a titan of the American Baptist Convention, a past president of the American Council of Churches, and a devoted pacifist. The American Baptist Convention created a peace award in his name and, in 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr. was the first recipient of the Edwin T. Dahlberg Peace Award. 

John's detailing of Dahlberg family history and the legacy of his grandfather did not detract from his tribute to his mother's courage, faith, integrity, joyful spirit, or tireless service. Rather, John helped us understand the context of service and bravery his father and mother's service to the endangered and the impoverished grew out of. 

John's tribute uplifted and stirred awe in me. 

2. Following the service, many of us gathered in the Mountain View Congregational Church's fellowship hall for a delicious buffet luncheon featuring chicken, salads, and desserts. 

I especially enjoyed talking with classmates -- Sharon W. told me how her mother is doing, Susan K. and I reminisced about a (now closed) fish and chips shop in Brooklyn, the Atlantic ChipShop, we both enjoyed, Stu gave me a detailed update that I fully appreciated on his brother's recovery from two recent surgeries, and I got to join in some other really good conversation and story telling. 

It was heart warming to me that so many of us from the Class of 1972 turned out today to honor Lois Dahlberg and support Sue in her time of loss and grief. I felt proud to be a member of such thoughtful, kind, and generous classmates. 

3. Back home, Debbie arrived after she had a fun visit at The Lounge, and we enjoyed leftover curried chicken wings from last night along with basmati rice. We yakked about a lot of stuff, including our plans for Saturday, December 21, Debbie's 74th birthday and her day of travel from Spokane to Newark to begin a holiday visit at Josh and Adrienne's house, to eventually see almost all of our family (I don't think she'll see Hiram), and to enter into the buzz and excitement of the holiday season with all of them. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-19-2024: I Cruised the Uptown Gut, More Fun With the Wok, Watching the Wildcats Play Priest River

1. I vaulted into the Sube for a quick trip uptown to the Post Office. Some new life is and has been stirring uptown. Uphill Grill is open more days. Zany's Pizza is preparing a spot on McKinley to reopen after leaving the old Sunshine Inn building. Philly Cheesesteak is open -- I don't know how business is going. Beach Bum Bakery is working on locating its operations on the west side of Main Street. There might be more going on, but these are the stirrings I know about and observed when I cruised the gut today. 

2. I got the wok back out and used it to fry a package of chicken party wings. I took them out and in the melted fat at the bottom of the pan I added rings of white onion and sliced mushrooms, and, at the same time, steamed baby potatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower. In a bowl I mixed two cans of coconut milk and two tablespoons each of red curry paste, soy sauce, fish sauce, and brown sugar. I returned the chicken wings to the wok, covered the chicken with curry sauce and added lime kefir leaves along with Thai Wheat Noodles. Last of all, I added the broccoli, cauliflower, and the potatoes, halved. I let this all simmer in the wok on low for about a half an hour and the result was a bowl of something like curried soup with curried chicken wings to remove and eat with our hands. 

Not entirely a convenient meal to eat, but the flavors and the curry sauce heat were nearly perfect. 

3. Ed swung by and we went to Andrews Gymnasium (I called it The Drew) at Kellogg High and watched the hometown Wildcats play the Priest River Spartans. 

From my point of view, the 'Cats played hard, hustled, did their best to push the ball up court and pick up the pace of the game. Two things stymied the 'Cats, I thought. The 'Cats committed quite a few turnovers and they struggled to score. Tonight, at least, the 'Cats didn't have a player or two they could turn to as reliable scorers and so despite holding the Spartans to 50 points, the Wildcats only scored 43 points and suffered a loss. 

I plan on returning to The Drew to watch this team some more, hoping that they commit fewer turnovers, continue to force their opponents into turnovers, and that they shoot better -- both their shots near the hoop and their outside shots. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-18-2024: Stir Fry on the Spot, No Parking at the High School, I Was Victorious Tonight

1. As you can imagine, the last week of school before the Christmas/winter break is challenging for classroom teachers -- at least in elementary schools. 

Today, Debbie arrived home earlier than usual to rest up a bit after an intense school day. Her students would be performing at 6:00 at the high school as part of a concert featuring students in grades 3-12 in the Kellogg district. 

Her early arrival home gave me a start, a good start, I might add, and I wondered how soon she wanted to eat dinner. 

"I'm really hungry."

"Okay. I'll get right on it."

One reason I love cooking with the wok is that I can have a dinner ready to eat in 20-30 minutes.

Tonight, I took out a large frying pan with vegetable and sesame oil, got the Trader Joe's Thai Wheat Noodles heated up and ready to eat.

I then did some chopping and slicing. 

I'd thawed a couple of small, thick strips of tri-tip steaks. I sliced them into small pieces. 

I sliced a red onion, chopped a half a red pepper, sliced and chopped an eggplant and half a yellow squash, and had sliced mushrooms on hand, ready to go.

I heated oil in the wok and then stir fired the beef with the onion and red pepper, added in the eggplant and yellow squash, and saved the mushrooms for last. 

I dressed the noodles with soy sauce, added ginger and red pepper flakes to the stir fry and PRESTO! in fairly quick order, Debbie and I had a delicious dinner ready to eat -- Debbie nourished herself and had some more time to rest before the concert. 

2. Debbie left for the high school and then, a short time later, she called me from our driveway. At the high school, so many people were attending the concert that Debbie couldn't find a parking spot. 

No problem. 

I hopped into the Camry and drove her back to KHS and dropped her off with a plan that she'd try to find a ride home or would call me to pick her up. 

She found a ride. 

3. Debbie wanted to go with potables more powerful than Hazy IPAs when she came back home and asked me to go to the liquor store and pick her up gin and Cointreau.

Which I did.

This led to me experiencing a small but exhilarating triumph. 

You see, I'm not a skilled handyman. 

I'm especially lousy when it comes to doing tasks requiring fine motor skills. 

I'm clumsy, especially with small batteries, clips, screwdrivers, and other tiny things.

Well, on my trip to the liquor store, I had both Debbie's and my fob in the car. 

I'd had an experience on my trip to Oregon that led me to believe my fob battery was getting low.

This evening, a message came up on the control panel telling a fob's battery was low.

Only mine?

Debbie's too? 

I didn't know. 

When I got home I found a YouTube video I've watched in the past for instruction, got new fob batteries out, and slowly, clumsily, inexpertly, and patiently removed each fob's battery, replaced each one, tested them by locking and unlocking the doors to the Camry, popping open the trunk, and testing the ignition. 

Success! 

I don't know what runners feel like when they finish Bloomsday or the Boston Marathon or an Ironman race, but my sense of accomplishment and triumph at completing this task must have been pretty close to those athletes' joy. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-17-2024: Lower on the Triage Ladder, Vivid Dreams!, Leftover Meatloaf Dinner

1. A lot happened on Monday: labs at Sacred Heart, checking results as they flew into my portal, a Great Harvest coffee and muffin stop, shopping at Trader Joe's and Pilgrim's Market, lunch at The Breakfast Nook, car serviced at the Toyota shop, and hoping the snow falling didn't stick to the roads. (It didn't.) We had family dinner on Monday. 

Monday was a cyclone. 

Today I balanced out the whirlwind of Monday with very little activity on Tuesday. 

Tuesday was a zephyr.

I have not heard from the nurse coordinator about my labs and I take that as a very good sign -- I'm assuming there are no problems to address and that my medicine dosages will remain the same.

For about six weeks now, I've been pretty sure that I've moved down the triage ladder, that I don't need and will not receive the kind of immediate attention and response I got when I had labs done in the early post-transplant months. 

To me, this is good news.

It's a ladder I'm happy to descend. 

2. When I went to sleep Tuesday evening, for the entire night I experienced one vivid dream sequence after another. When each sequence ended, I was too stoked to go back to sleep and I played the dreams in my mind over and over, hoping I would soon fall back to sleep.

I loved my first very intense dream in which a group of actors, including my first wife, and I were working hard in rehearsal (I was the director), preparing to perform a period piece involving royalty, broken marriages, forbidden attractions between characters, as written in the script, and deep character analysis as we talked together to figure out the roles and the action. I woke up and was talking out loud (what did Copper think?), telling the actors to work with the tension between strong transgressive sexual attraction and restraint. 

I've never been a play director -- don't ever plan to be -- but, in the world of dreams, it was fun working these things out with talented and experienced actors and negotiating the uncertainty of working on a project with my first wife with whom I've had no contact for right around forty years. 

My second dream involved a welcome and unexpected reunion with a Eugene friend I haven't seen for over ten years. The third enmeshed me in a madcap trip from our former residence at 940 Madison in Eugene to the Eugene airport to drop off Patrick and Meagan who were going on an international flight, but we and a herd of other family members who were piling into the Sube, a thousand clowns style, just couldn't seem to get going and once we did, I kept missing turns, making U-turns, and being unable to take the correct route to the airport. 

This stressed me out and I woke myself up and talked myself down, doing all in my power not to return to that disoriented dream once I fell back to sleep. 

I succeeded. 

3. I had to wonder as I climbed out of bed this (Wednesday) morning: were these intense and fascinating and, regarding the last one, stressful dreams a result of my delicious Tuesday night dinner?

Ha! I don't know why some warmed up leftover delicious meatloaf and sautéed mushrooms, red pepper, red  onion, and yellow squash and a sliced cosmic crisp apple would lead me to the stage, a Eugene reunion, and a labyrinth of a drive to the Eugene airport from 940 Madison in Eugene.

I don't need to know.

It's just fun writing about what was a fun, wild, and a bit stressful night of dreams and talking out loud to my pillows (and Copper!). 

Three Beautiful Things 12-16-2024: Blood Work Very Encouraging, Frisco Burger Elicits (Pretend?) Memories, Early Birthday Celebration at Family Dinner

1. As it turned out, driving on I-90 this morning from Kellogg to Spokane was not a problem, but just in case the roads got dicey, I took off at 5:30.

I arrived at Sacred Heart in plenty of time, the phlebotomist drew eight vials of my blood, and I dashed to the basement of the hospital, went to the Thomas Hammer coffee counter, and ordered a most enjoyable 12 oz double latte. 

It wasn't too long before results of my labs began to drop into my patient portal online. 

Markers that I consider key really look good. My BUN number is in range -- it's been many many years since this was true. 

My creatinine number is now the best it's been in many many years and is inching its way toward being in range. 

My GFR over the last 6-7 years had dipped as low as 12 (it didn't stay there), but the GFR has been in the teens ever since my last labs in Eugene in 2014.

With my new kidney, today my GFR hit 50 and if it should improve to 60, it'll be in range. 

More results will come in later this week, but, so far, my numbers are either stable or improved -- so far, none of the numbers sound any kind of alarm.

My recovery continues to go well.

My recent trip to Oregon had increased my confidence that my immune system is strengthening. Today's blood work gives me reassurance that my new kidney is doing its job. And how! 

2. The cafeteria latte bolstered me to vault into the Camry and rocket up Grand Blvd and head east on 29th to Great Harvest. Normally, Great Harvest sells Morning Glory muffins on Monday, but the bakery popped a cool surprise on its customers today with Lemon Poppyseed Blueberry muffins. I ordered one, loved it, and enjoyed a couple cups of Cravens (no apostrophe) Earth and Sky dark roast coffee. 

As I sat by myself contemplating the encouragement this day offered me so far, snow began to fall. 

I didn't rush out, but once I finished my refreshments, I drove right past Trader Joe's, eased downhill to the freeway, joined the other travelers, and drove without incident to Coeur d'Alene.

I had quite a bit of time before my oil change appointment, so I went to Trader Joe's in CdA and popped across the street to Pilgrim's Market and now the trunk was stocked with excellent groceries for home and an armful of Hazy IPAs for Debbie -- that's her favorite beer.

As I drove north on 4th, I suddenly decided to have lunch at the Breakfast Nook -- for the first time. All of my many many other meals at the Breakfast Nook have been breakfasts. 

I ordered a Frisco Style Burger -- a cooked through ground beef patty on grilled sourdough bread with Swiss cheese and 1,000 Island Dressing. My memory is not trustworthy, but I enjoy my fantastical trips to my past to things that might never have happened, but make me happy -- so accurate or not, this burger reminded me of dining at Original Joe's, a longtime eatery on 8th and Willamette in Eugene and also reminded me of what I remembered as the Rennie Burger at Rennie's Landing, a watering hole and eatery just north of the bustling University of Oregon corner of 13th and Kincaid in Eugene.

For all I know, those Eugene burgers from the 1980s and possibly on into the 1990s had nothing in common with my Breakfast Nook burger, but isn't that the beauty of nostalgia and memory? That the memories that rose up in my mind at the Breakfast Nook counter might have little basis in reality, but still gave me all kinds of pleasure, inspiring me to eat my lunch with what was probably a dopey grin on my face? 

3. The crew finished servicing the Camry within the time they promised. I stopped at Starbucks for a triple grande latte to help me get over the 4th of July Pass and, once again, to my relief, the travel conditions were not a problem.

Tonight we celebrated Debbie's and my upcoming birthdays. Debbie will be in New York on her birthday and I think there's a family craft day for those about to craft (we salute you) with Saphire on my birthday. 

For our birthday dinner, Carol fixed food that Debbie and I love. We started with mini won tons and then moved to the Roberts' new (to them) dining table (it had been Paul's mom and dad's table and his mom let it go) for a pork tenderloin and vegetable stir fry with rice (was it jasmine? basmati? white rice?). It was superb. We also had a tray of vegetables and a dip. 

For dessert, Christy prepared a sinfully delicious apple, cranberry, and golden raisin pie.

Then Debbie and I opened our gifts. 

Carol gave me a bag of treats: fruit cake, salted caramel pear butter, and Revival Northwest Breakfast tea  (did I miss something?).

Christy gave me a long sleeved T-shirt emblazoned with the movie title, The Last Waltz, on it. Coincidentally, as I opened it, I was wearing my gray "The Weight" hoodie featuring the members of The Band and the line, "Wait a minute Chester" on the front. We'd talked earlier about the movie, The Last Waltz and other rock music documentaries and this gift brought our whole evening full circle. 

It was unbroken. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-15-2024: Jury Is Still Out, Awesome Meatloaf, Pre-Blood Draw Giddiness

1. I spent a good chunk of this afternoon reading about current events, like in Syria, but also about things like how otherwise obscure people gain fame via the World Wide Web. I know more now about the world than I did this morning. My inner jury is still deliberating whether I understand things better. As of now, that jury is deadlocked, unable to reach a verdict. 

2. Debbie found a meatloaf recipe that interested her and this evening she made it. I'm afraid I'm unable to report with any detail or accuracy what made it so delicious, but I sure enjoyed it. 

3. I started feeling kind of excited this evening. I last had lab work done at Sacred Heart on November 25th and since then I've felt really good, had a great trip to Gladstone and Eugene where I put my immune system to the test in a variety of ways, didn't get sick, and felt terrific. 

I go to Spokane first thing tomorrow morning (Monday) morning and I hustled around this evening getting  what I need pulled together, feeling hopeful that my numbers are going to look good, that I'll enjoy a muffin and coffee at Great Harvest, and that I'll find other fun ways (Trader Joe's maybe!) to fill up time before taking the Camry in at 12:15 to be serviced. 

Big day ahead! 

Three Beautiful Things 12-14-2024: Copper Makes Contact With My Shoulder!, RIP Jack Robert (1946-2024), Mongolian Noodles

1. It wasn't really jet lag, but I had what I'd call auto lag today. I spent a lot of time lying down, resting and napping,  on the bed with Copper and, lo and behold, Copper positioned himself close enough to me that he made actual physical contact with my shoulder. Until today, Copper limited his contact with me to my thighs or calves, most often when I was under the covers. 

February 3rd will mark the fourth anniversary of Copper and Luna coming into our home. Luna died a year ago and now, after nearly four years, Copper has made contact with my shoulder! 

What else might be in store for Copper and me?

2. I'm going to take a break for a little while from strictly beautiful things and write a few words about a something sad I learned today.

Every so often, I go to Eugene's local paper, the Register Guard, and scan the obituaries. I usually find out about fellow parishioners from St. Mary's Episcopal Church who have died in the twice a week email I receive from the church. 

But, it's through these obituaries that I learn about people I worked with at LCC or that I studied with at the U of O, sometimes fellow graduate students who either stayed in or returned to the Eugene area. 

Today, I learned that on December 9th, a fellow faculty member from the English, Foreign Language, and Speech division at LCC, Jack Robert, died. 

Jack taught speech. 

I almost immediately recalled a Saturday afternoon in 1998, when I was the chair of the division, and Jack and Mike Skupsky and I played snooker downtown at Luckey's Club. 

We drank a lot of beer. Mike and Jack introduced me to the game of snooker. We had a great time together. 

As time went along, though, Mike, Jack, and I would never hang out together again, thanks largely to disagreements about hiring and other things at LCC. 

Jack and I didn't have disagreements about hiring -- we worked very well together on (I think) two hiring committees in the Speech department and I admired his insights about candidates and how he articulated his thoughts about whom the committee should hire. 

But, hmmm, what I would call Jack's libertarian worldview was often at odds with the emerging culture at Lane Community College. 

For example,  Jack was a prominent voice on campus in opposition to a campus wide smoking ban. 

I supported the ban, but I also respected Jack's point of view, although I doubt he ever knew I did. 

I heard through the grapevine that Jack was disappointed in my support of division and department governing principles like arriving at decisions by consensus, my support of Affirmative Action, and of what was and wasn't suitable language in the classroom, among other things.  

I thought we were always friendly with each other in the hallways, but I knew a chill had also moved in between us, so we never played snooker again nor enjoyed beers together. 

The sadness I experienced when this chill moved in about twenty-five years ago returned today.

But reading about Jack's life relieved me of this sadness. 

I'd always heard that Jack had many talents and passions that we never saw on campus.

His obituary highlighted the things Jack loved to do: cook, host an annual Polish Christmas celebration, work with wood, restore and refurbish structures, throw pots, host and design sets for a readers' theater, travel with his partner Martha, and, I'd have to say, play an accomplished game of snooker! 

When I was at Russell's retirement party on December 5, I was in conversation with Speech instructor Jay Frasier, and suddenly Jack Robert popped into my mind and I wondered how he was doing, wondered if he were still alive. 

I didn't ask Jay. 

The party was a joyous occasion and I just didn't feel like bringing the subject of who's dead and who's alive into the conversation. 

Now I know he was alive on December 5th, but died on December 9th.

Learning this felt eerie to me -- I hadn't thought much about Jack over the years and I'm not sure why concern about him popped out of nowhere into my mind at the party.

Tonight, though, as I read his obituary,  it made me happy to read that Jack's life in retirement and his life away from the college sounded fun, fulfilling, adventurous, and socially alive and satisfying. 

Rest in peace, Jack. 

By the way, if you'd like to read Jack's obituary and see a picture of him as a much younger man, here's a link: https://tinyurl.com/yvkpnhts

3. Debbie found a recipe on Pinterest for Mongolian Noodles. She combined ground beef, Thai Wheat Noodles, soy sauce, ginger powder, Hoisin sauce, chopped green onion, red pepper flakes,  and I'm not sure what else and created a superb dish for our dinner tonight.

I hope we won't forget this meal and that Debbie brings it back again on down the road some time. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-13-2024: Happy Copper, How I Like to Travel, A Night of Nostalgia

1. Back home. Rest. Napping. Laundry. 

A lot of time lying down with Copper who communicated many signs of being happy that we are back together again. Copper doesn't cling to me (like Luna did), but Copper moved as close to me as he is willing to do and purred almost without ceasing as I stroked the top of his head, the top of his neck, and his spine. He also enjoyed it when I scratched his chin. Normally, Copper moves around. He leaps off the bed, jumps into a laundry basket, or saunters into the Vizio room and hangs out on or behind the soft chair in there. 

Not today.

He spent almost the whole day on my bed, relaxing, awaiting my return when I left the room, luxuriating when I paid him the attention he let me know he longed for. 

2. I thought a lot today about how I like to travel. 

I've never had a bucket list and I don't see one in my future.

I have greatly enjoyed every trip I've taken with Debbie, especially the several time we have driven across the USA to see family and our trips back. When we drove from New York to Kellogg in 2021, we organized our drive around stopping at dog friendly, mostly small town or medium sized city breweries and that was a blast, sampling beers outside and getting acquainted with parts of the country we'd been unfamiliar with, like the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 

More than anything when I travel or think about traveling, I want to see family and friends -- in Portland, Seattle, Eugene, Valley Cottage, NY, New York City, the DC/Maryland/Virginia region -- and, I have to admit, hanging out in Washington, DC, going, say, to the National Gallery, driving to places I enjoy in Maryland,  and walking the streets of Manhattan by myself feels like I'm in the company of great friends -- and I am in the company of great friends when I stroll New York City with Scott or Mary or roam around New England with the Troxstar.

Similarly, I feel like after three visits, I've made a new friend with the city of Nelson, British Columbia and areas around Nelson and I'd enjoy returning to Nelson, alone or with family.

So, my trip to Portland and Eugene and to the ocean suited me perfectly. 

I spent many hours with longtime and beloved friends and, for me, there's no better reason to take a trip, no better way to spend my precious travel time. 

3. When I was ready to fall asleep last night, Debbie was out in the living room listening to different things online. I put ear buds in and fell asleep listening to Luna's superb album Bewitched on Spotify. When the album was finished, Spotify then played a mix of songs by alternative rock bands of the late 80s and on into the 90s. 

I didn't listen to this music when it came out around thirty plus years ago, but it's sure working for me now in 2024.

I especially enjoy a song by Miracle Legion: "The Backyard".

I slept through Bewitched, but "The Backyard" woke me up and suddenly I felt the most enjoyable nostalgic feelings in response to a song I've only known for about a month, but it's gotten inside me and has become one of those songs that it seems like I've been listening to forever.

It ended and I realized Debbie and Gibbs had gone upstairs to bed. 

I got up, made sure the front door was locked and that the heat was lowered, returned, put my earbuds in their case, fell back asleep, and later I had dreams about being with former Whitworth students in about 1983 and we were discussing the possibility of working out and performing a dance piece together to the music of the Eurhythmics. 

Nostalgia ruled my sweet night of sweet dreams (are made of this) and music. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-12-2024: Terry Feeds Me Really Well, Long Grateful Thoughts on the Road, I Return to Kellogg in Good Health

1. I wasn't exactly lightning quick getting out the door this morning to begin my drive back to Kellogg. 

No matter.

Terry prepared a delicious and bracing breakfast: sausage from a family grown pig (Sarah raised it), scrambled eggs, and pancakes. 

I was ready to crawl north on I-205, whiz east on I-84, blast up I-82 and across the top of the Tri-Cities on I-182, rocket up US 395 to Ritzville, and then fly east to Kellogg on I-90. I latted up a couple of times and stopped twice for fuel and made stops at three rest areas. 

2. I had a lot of time to think on this 8.5 hour drive.

Mostly I thought about how everyone I visited on this trip are simply superb people and great friends. 

I was nourished, stimulated, uplifted, and at ease with everyone I saw, all the conversations I had, and all the time we spent together. 

I was in great spirits when I arrived in Oregon, but somehow my friends and our time together raised my already high spirits even higher. 

3. Likewise, I was very happy to return to Kellogg. Debbie and I had a long and very thoughtful conversation about a wide variety of things almost immediately upon my return. I also enjoyed a great reunion with Copper who seemed very happy to be at my side again after a nearly ten day separation.

I'll also add that I was around a lot of people, sometimes in small spaces. I ate some foods that are listed as high risk for me post-transplant. I wore a mask at the Oregon Contemporary Theater, at the casino, and at the Irish jam. I took some risks. I exercised precautions, too. 

Now, here I am, back home, having been with a bunch of people and having done a bunch of fun stuff, and I'm well. 

It seems to me that my immune system is working pretty well. I thought this trip would be a good test. I hoped my system would pass the test and, as of today (Friday), it appears that nothing I did or ate made me sick. 

I'm telling you: for me, this is HUGE. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-11-2024: Wednesday Morning Eucharist at St Mary's, Darting Around Eugene/Springfield, Terry and I Were Unsupervised Ha Ha!

 1. I started my Wednesday by going to the weekly Wednesday morning Eucharist at St. Mary's Episcopal Church. Rev. Ryan Baker-Fones was this morning's celebrant which was especially fun for me because around thirty or so years ago, Ryan was a Shakespeare student of mine one quarter at LCC. As it turned out, his mother, Leah, was also in one of my classes, not Shakespeare, but research writing. 

I hadn't been to a service since some time before the pandemic struck. I quarantined myself with some strictness when the pandemic was at its hottest and I got out of the habit of driving to Coeur d'Alene to the closest Episcopal Church, St. Luke's.  

I loved being back in the loving arms of the Eucharistic rite. I was stirred, actually moved by the familiarity of the liturgy.  All those words I've heard repeated and repeated myself so many times sink into me a bit deeper each time I hear them and speak them. They sunk in a bit deeper today, especially during prays of preparation for taking Communion and during the prayer of thanksgiving afterward. 

Because not many Episcopalians live in the Silver Valley, the diocese closed both parishes here -- first in Kellogg and then in Wallace. 

I understand. 

Now, I've got to get back into the routine of driving to St. Luke's in Coeur d'Alene on Sundays again, weather permitting, and return to the liturgical rhythms and the kind spirit of Episcopalian worship. 

2. I left the church, returned to the studio apartment, having checked out but, as usual, I also left a jacket behind. I retrieved it. Then I ran errands. I bought a Fitbit charger at Best Buy. I bought Debbie some Hazy IPAs at Bier Stein. I returned to the Starbucks on 7th I used to frequent and purchased a latte for the road. It was fun driving routes in Eugene and Springfield  I used to use frequently to get around and a fun way to end my Eugene visit.

3. I then drove back to the Turner's house in Gladstone. Nancy is helping her sister after surgery in Boise,  so Terry and I were, as he put it, unsupervised. Ha ha!  

We had the house to ourselves. 

We really tore it up. 

We yakked for a while and then headed to a food truck pod in Oregon City where I enjoyed my first ever Nashville hot chicken sandwich. 

Terry had walked and played eighteen holes of golf earlier in the day. 

I'd been running around Eugene and Springfield and driving on I-5 and I-205. .

So both of us turned in around old man o'clock -- about 9 p.m.

I slept restfully and peacefully in preparation for my Thursday drive back to Kellogg. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-10-2024: I Slow Things Down, Eat at Tradewinds, Go See *Wicked* with Judy/Sparky

1. When I extended my stay by two nights in Eugene, my original plan was to go over to the Oregon coast on both Monday and Tuesday. 

It turns out, however, that I needed a day of rest today and I spent much of the day resting, napping, blogging, working puzzles, and taking breaks from relaxing by spiffing up the studio apartment where I was staying. 

2. I also waltzed into Tradewinds, a local eatery, and treated myself to a Greek Patty Melt, a fun fusion of hamburger, feta cheese, and other Greek seasonings and a sauce. 

3. Sparky/Judy and I decided to go see Wicked together in the Regal Cinema's IMAX theater. It was like being in a cinematic ocean of images, music, singing, dancing, comedy, and drama. 

I found the movie overwhelming. I definitely experienced sensory overload, but not in a bad way. It was kind of fun to submit to such a cinematic tidal wave, but I have to admit that I am more drawn to quieter movies, older movies, movies less driven by digital effects and flurries of noisy action.

That said, I can imagine going to see Wicked again and, once again, giving myself over to its magnitude. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-09-2024: Breakfast with Linda, A Trip to the Oregon Coast, Dinner at Jade Dumplings and Noodle House

1. This trip to Eugene has involved one superb conversation after another! This morning I dashed out to Elmer's where I met Linda S., our division's administrative assistant for many years at LCC, and we had excellent food and had a great talk about our renal health, some of the old days at LCC, the Oregon Ducks, retired life, the USA, and a host of other topics. We had other things to do and so had to end our talk. I look forward to the next time we are both in the same place (we had lunch together in Kellogg once -- and Wayne joined in! -- so who knows where we might see each other again! 

2. After breakfast, I returned to the studio, took care of few things quickly, and then drove to the coast. 

I sat on a couple of different logs and stared at the ocean at Heceta Beach and watched a few people play with their ecstatic dogs.  

Hardly anyone was on this seemingly endless expanse of beach. The sky was cloudless. The wind was mild. No wonder the dogs were so happy with plenty of room to run and chase balls and discs and even spend a little time playing chase with other dogs. 

I strolled up to the water line, stared some more. 

My peaceful visit ended.

I decided, then, to check out my former "home" casino, Three Rivers, just east of Florence. 

It's a completely revamped and remodeled establishment now.

And, today, sadly, it was also a house of no luck for me! Ha! I played for a while, kept making lousy spins, so I headed back to Eugene. 

Thank goodness all of my other reunions with people were infinitely better than this one, ha!, with machines! 

3. Back in Eugene, I decided to give the establishment that Eugene Weekly had named as Eugene's Best Chinese Restaurant in 2024 a try.

I went to the cozy strip mall establishment on S. Willamette, Jade Dumplings and Noodle House. 

Most of the patrons were in groups and ordered several entrees and shared them. 

Had I been with others, I would have ordered dumplings, but I decided against ordering the twelve that come with each order! 

Instead, I ordered a hill of Mixed Fried Noodles, a mound of delicious noodles combined with beef, pork, shrimp, chicken, cabbage, green onion, shredded carrot, bean sprouts, and egg. 

As an appetizer, I ordered half a dozen deep fried spring rolls. 

I enjoyed my meal a lot and if I lived in Eugene, I would invite another person or other people to join me so we could share dumplings and try out other entrees together. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-08-2024: Brunch at Lynn's, Yakkin' with Lynn, Irish Jam and Drunken Noodles

 1. Until Debbie and I moved to Maryland in 2014, we met for dinner with a group of friends on Thursday nights at Billy Mac's in Eugene. Billy Mac's is now closed. (In fact, in organizing Russell's retirement party, Anne held it on Thursday as a way to pay homage to those great Thursday Billy Mac's get togethers.) 

Today, some of the Billy Mac's dinner mates joined together at Lynn T's house for a superb brunch of egg casserole, bagels for Lox, Stock, and Bagel with lox, cream cheese, butter, and red onion slices out, link sausages, lattes, Bloody Marys, and Mimosas all available.  

It was awesome to see Anne, Russell, Mary, Jennifer, Carrie, Pam, Michael, and Lynn and enjoy the great food and energetic conversations and to have memories of nights at Billy Mac's flicker in and out of my mind. 

2. As our gathering thinned out, Lynn asked me if I'd like to stick around and yak for a while and I did. It had been a while since we talked about things that happened in the English Department over the years and we discussed times we enjoyed and things that were disappointing.  We talked about broader topics, too, and had a great time discussing life in the USA, the books Leah Sottile has led me to read, the pleasure of reading Anthony Trollope, women as superheroes in movies and elsewhere, and more. 

It was a superb afternoon -- uplifting, an afternoon that took me back many years to other great conversations I've enjoyed with Lynn over the years. 

3. From Lynn's house, I blasted to Sam Bond's Garage to listen to a circle of musicians join together for the weekly Irish jam. When I arrived, Sam Bond's was packed with people eating an afternoon meal while taking in the music and others, like me, there just to listen. I found an empty table, poured myself a glass of water, and just floated, enjoying the array of tunes and indulging in nostalgic memories of attending these jams from time to time with Debbie when we lived in Eugene. 

When the jam ended, I decided to go to Tasty Thai and I thoroughly enjoyed my plate of Drunken Noodles with tofu and a scoop of homemade coconut ice cream for dessert. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-07-2024: Joining Judy's Coffee Klatch, Reunion with AnnMarie, Great Harvest (!) and an Evening with Francoise and Herb

 1.  On Saturday mornings, Sparky (Judy), Mitch Hider, and others meet for coffee, most often at the South Willamette Market of Choice. Judy invited me to join them today and it was a blast. We yakked about theater, libraries, Shakespeare, my good fortune that I'm alive -- actually, all of our fortune is really good this way! -- and other topics that came and went. 

We had chocolates and pastries for treats. 

It was a jolly coffee klatch and I was beaming, so happy that Judy invited me to join in.

2. This joyous start to my day never let up.

Back in 1991, AnnMarie M. enrolled in the Wednesday night Shakespeare course I was teaching for the first time at LCC and we became longtime friends. She was the first person to act in what would become the Shakespeare Showcase. We and other friends and students travelled often to Portland to watch Shakespeare plays performed by the Tygre's Heart Shakespeare Company -- with dinner to follow, often, at the Spaghetti Factory, a fun tradition. 

AnnMarie became very active in the Eugene world of theater as a terrific actor and a superb costumer and in other ways. 

AnnMarie also owns Footloose Massage Center in downtown Eugene. Recently, on December 2, she held an open house at Footloose. Judy missed it and I wasn't in town yet, so Judy called AnnMarie to see if we could visit her at Footloose and it worked out.

I got to see AnnMarie! 

Judy and I visited her handsomely appointed massage center and sat for a while in the foot massage area and had a wonderful visit. AnnMarie has recently done some awesome traveling, I learned how her son and daughter are doing, we talked about cats, and we looked back at some of the shows AnnMarie has costumed and appeared in. 

As we sat comfortably and yakked away, I saw some of my best times in Eugene pass before my memory's eye: the first time I saw the movie Much Ado About Nothing, on opening night at the Bijou,  was with AnnMarie's family; I saw how much AnnMarie contributed to helping the Shakespeare Showcase grow into the splendid and fun event it became; I remembered how AnnMarie recommended to the director, Denise LaCroix, when she needed a replacement actor for Polonius in Rosencrtantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, that she invite me to join the cast (which I did). 

I was present in the moment during our reunion, but, at the same time, I was enjoying the many nourishing waters that passed under the bridge AnnMarie and I shared for many years, especially in the 1990s. 

I hadn't expected this reunion and I'm immeasurably grateful to Judy for making it happen. 

3. Judy's car was parked at Market of Choice and after I drove Judy back to her car, I dropped in at Great Harvest (Yes! GREAT HARVEST! It's been in Eugene for centuries!). I ordered a superb Chimichurri Roast Beef sandwich on Dakota bread and brought it back to the studio I'm renting and went straight to heaven thanks to this delicious meal. 

I got caught up on my blog.

I took a nap. 

I rested some more. 

I got cleaned up.

I then headed to Herb and Francoise's house for a scintillating evening visit, replete with superb and boisterous conversation about everything from the joy of having Misty in our life in Kellogg to the current state of the USA and our country's uncertain future. 

Our electric conversation was enhanced by the chicken noodle soup, Caesar salad, and fresh bread and Swiss cheese Francoise served for dinner. I also enjoyed a non-alcohol Black Butte Porter, my first NA beer ever. I couldn't believe my good fortune! 

Herb and Francoise's sons, Miles and Bryce, were both home. Both were students of Debbie's at Charlemagne French Immersion School here in Eugene.

Francoise wanted Debbie to see how splendid Miles and Bryce look and thought it would be fun to include me in a picture.

So, here we are, from left to right: Bryce, me, and Miles. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-06-2024: Burger With Roger in Salem, Coffee with Jeff and Margaret, A Night at the Theater

1. I am writing this blog post with over four hours ahead of me with nothing scheduled until 6:00. I will take my time writing this post and then plan to remember to post the link to it in the Facebook comments when I'm through. I also think I have my schedule straight today after messing up yesterday and scheduling two get togethers at exactly the same time. Very embarrassing. 

So here I go! 

I tried to finish writing my blog post enthusing about my uplifting day on Thursday, but didn't quite finish.

I needed to blast onto I-5 and rocket north to Salem to Killer Burger near the Costco on Kuebler Blvd where I'd be meeting my lifelong friend Roger Pearson for a burger and some great yakkin'. 

We had a first-rate discussion. We debriefed Don Knott's Celebration of Life, which was great to go back to and remember and we discussed our observations and thoughts about the USA as 2024 nears its end, unable to resist making some contrasts between our country now and the way things were when we were younger. 

Roger is an astute observer of the USA and has a keen understanding of the rule of law and I enjoyed a lot listening to his thoughts and insights.

So, as old friends do, we spent some time living in the past, but we spent a lot of time focused on the present and possibly the future. 

If you'd like to see a picture of Roger and me, happy to be together and finished with our food, just scroll down a ways. 

2. I dashed back to Eugene, found a parking spot in the busy 5th St. Public Market parking lot, and strolled into the market's Eatery area where I met up with Margaret and Jeff for coffee. Michael fell ill and had to cancel. 

We were resuming our long habit of meeting for coffee which began in the neighborhood of thirty-five or more years ago. 

We had a lot of ground to cover together and we did a most admirable job of it. 

We talked about people, alive and having passed, that we have (or have had) long histories with. I very much appreciated getting caught up on what's happening or has happened with people Jeff and Margaret had news about. 

We yakked about medical stuff, a nearly unavoidable topic as we grow older. 

I was so happy that our reunion today was so easy, that we fell immediately back into the ease and comfort with one another we've known all these years. I could have continued for more hours, easily, and kept yakkin', but we all had other plans coming up and went our separate ways after about an hour and a half or so.

3. I made a mental error this evening. I made a plan to go to the Oregon Contemporary Theater with Sparky (Judy), thinking I had arranged a get together with Francoise and Herb on Saturday. 

I was wrong. 

I misread a text message and when Francoise called me around 6:30, I discovered that we had agreed to meet on Friday.

Very embarrassing for me.

Fortunately, Francoise was both gracious and understanding and we rescheduled for Saturday evening, but I realized that I'm not used to having as much social activity as I'm enjoying right now and the flurry of activity left me prone to getting mixed up.

So, I picked up Sparky (Judy) and I loved being in a Eugene theater again. 

I'd never been to the Oregon Contemporary Theater before and, oh my!, I got to have a great conversation with Sam Arnold-Boyd and find out how her sons were doing and get caught up on other things. I shared a greeting with Dan P. I was ecstatic to have a chance to embrace and talk with Marla N. as I made my way to my seat.  

I loved the theater itself, the space, the seating, the feeling of the place. 

The play itself, Fresh Snow, transported me to a bar in an unnamed Montana town in the general vicinity of Kalispell and featured some songs and music from the 1980s that was fun. I thought the actors were energetic, were having a blast, and the audience not only laughed a lot, but many gave the performance a standing ovation. 

It was opening night so there was a table of food and refreshments available after the play ended.

Sparky and I decided to have our own party and we slipped out of the theater and scooted up to the Bier Stein and shared a platter of delicious, plump chicken wings and continued conversations we had begun on Wednesday and reminisced about our history together in the theater. 

How long had it been since I had an evening at the theater followed some time on the town? How long had it been since I stayed out until well after 11 p.m., noshing, yakking, reminiscing, and talking about dreams for the future? 

I don't know how long it had been, but it was a ton of fun tonight. 

Roger and I at Killer Burger: 

Three Beautiful Things 12-05-2024: Meeting Up with Alex, Russell's Retirement Party, High School Rockers at Whirled Pies

1. Alex W. came to Lane Community College straight out of high school over fifteen years ago and enrolled in a Learning Community I was involved in and so was a student of mine. Alex and I had many great conversations in my office back then and we kept in touch, off and on, over the years after LCC through Facebook and email. 

Alex left the Eugene-Springfield area and moved to Minnesota and Las Vegas, but recently returned to Springfield. 

Knowing she was back in the area and that she was enrolled in a course back at LCC, I asked Alex if we could get together during my current visit to Eugene. 

We could! 

We met today near JJ Java, a coffee shop on the second floor of the Center building and yakked together for nearly two hours.

Since Alex was a student at LCC in her late teens, a lot has happened in her life -- she's now thirty-five. 

She has two sons, she's a widow, she's lost family members to death, she's become active again in her church and with ceremonies and other tribal practices. 

I was deeply impressed with how much Alex has grown as she's become an adult, how she's become wiser, more mature, resourceful, more open with herself and others about her experiences with grief, more open in sharing her gratitude, and, as always, I continued to be impressed with wit, intelligence, and shrewd observations. 

We both felt much gratitude that through luck and pluck we were able to meet up this morning after not seeing each other for so many years. 

It felt miraculous to me. 

By the way, while we were sipping our espresso drinks and yakkin' away, I heard someone call my name. I looked up and it was a theater mate from long ago. 

Dylan K.! 

We had a brief and heartfelt exchange and it was a wonderful coincidence because Judy and I had just talked for a while about Dylan yesterday!

2. After Alex and I bid one another farewell, with hopes we'll see each other again before too long, I returned to the apartment I'm renting and got caught up on writing blog posts and took a rest.  

I got cleaned up and headed to The Public House in Springfield where Ann and Russell had reserved a room called The Study for Russell's retirement party. 

It was amazing. 

I saw a whole bunch of people I've known for thousands of years but haven't seen recently at all. 

The conversations, spirit in the room, food, the happiness for Russell all combined to make this a memorable celebration! 

3. After the uplifting celebration at The Public House, many of us rocketed over to Whirled Pies in Eugene where Ann and Russell's son, Allie (drummer) and Jennifer's two sons, Jack and Charlie (electric guitar and bass -- I don't remember which son plays which instrument) performed with two other high school boys and their music teacher. Most of their set featured an abridged version of the Who's Tommy and they played another jazzier tune to conclude. 

This was really fun! 

I also, to my delight and surprise, got to see both Nate B. and Mary P. who were in attendance at Whirled Pies.

That made my head whirl! 

An afterthought: When I arrived at Whirled Pies, an ensemble of women, with the boys' high school music teacher on drums, were playing awesome songs from the 80s. They told us in the audience the name of their group and I know the name had Ladies and 80s in the title, but I don't remember the exact name. 

I enjoyed their positive energy, the fun they were having, and the sentimental feelings their song choices inspired in me as I listened. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-04-2024: Clearing Out of the Turner House, Afternoon with Sparky, Fried Rice and Yakkin' With Randy and Marla

 1. Terry had a ten o'clock tee time. Nancy had 9 o'clock Tai Chi. I wanted to arrive in Eugene before noon. So the three of us were up and at 'em this morning. After a jolt of morning coffee, Terry fixed oatmeal. It made for a solid breakfast. At Stu's request, Nancy photographed Terry and me. Scroll down a ways and you can see one of the results. By shortly after 9:00, we all cleared out of the house. 

2. I had an uneventful drive to Eugene and after swinging by the house on Madison that Debbie and I lived in for nearly seventeen years, I rocketed up to Judy/Sparky Roberts' house and over tea and lunch we started yakking in earnest about all that Sparky has endured over the last several months. Her partner in love and theater and intellectual companionship, Joe Cronin, died in May. Sparky spearheaded a theatrical memorial and celebration of his life that happened in late July. Soon after, Sparky/Judy had a painful and serious heart attack. 

We talked about grief. Recovery. Old times. The USA. Medical matters. And more. We talked for about four hours and I didn't want to stop, but I had to get settled in the studio apartment where I'm staying and get ready for my six o'clock jolt of stimulation.

3. I got settled into my elegant Airbnb. I then blasted down to chez Troxstar and had a delicious fried rice in the wok dinner and more wide ranging conversation with Randy and Marla about kids, aging parents, music, and any number of other topics. 

Our discussions were made all the more enjoyable thanks to the Troxstar playing Donnie Iris Radio on Pandora. 

Here's a picture of Terry and me. 

We've had coffee.

We've had oatmeal.

We haven't quite changed into our travel or golf clothes yet. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-03-2024: I Blast Off for Oregon, Mandatory Ritzville Latte, Yakkin' and Dining with the Turners

1. With wobbly confidence and hope that I hadn't forgotten anything, I packed up the Camry and blasted off for Gladstone, Oregon. 

I fueled the car in CdA and then needed to stop in at the pharmacy at the Sacred Heart hospital and add to my pill stash. I couldn't resist making a stop, on my way to Sacred Heart, at Great Harvest for a blueberry oat muffin and a cup of Craven's Earth and Sky coffee. 

2. All went smoothly, but it took me a while to get out of Spokane and whenever I travel west, it's mandatory that I stop at the Ritzville Starbucks. So I did. I ordered a latte, leapt back in the Camry, and I was off again. 

3. I arrived at Terry and Nancy's house around 5:30 and we immediately fell into fun, fascinating, and stimulating conversation about a wide range of things on our minds and managed to stop yakkin' long enough to enjoy a superb grilled salmon, roasted squash, and green salad dinner. Then it was back to the salon and more splendid discussion. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-02-2024: Lists and Multiple Re-checks, Packing a Pharmacy, Santa Maria Tri-Tip Roast

1. I wrote a list. Then another list. Then a third. These were lists of things to remember to pack. I wrote another list. This one reminded what things would go in which bag. I have some plans already made to meet with people. I wrote another list outlining the days and times of these meetings. Then I gathered things. I laundered a couple of bags. I packed as much as I could. I was so careful all day long not to forget anything that it felt like the equivalent of triple or quadruple locking a hotel room at night. 

2. I swear.  Traveling post-transplant makes me feel like I'm packing a pharmacy. In my larger post-transplant bag I packed my pillbox and a box holding all my pills, a bottle of Tylenol, a pill splitter, my transplant binder (has my prescription list, transplant program phone numbers, my daily blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and weight log, and more), pens, a pad of scratch paper, and maybe more. 

I'm set with plenty of medication and information anyone can find in the case of an emergency.

3. I took a break from packing, checking my bags, rechecking them, and re-rechccking them (did I forget something?) and fixed a Trader Joe's Santa Maria Tri-Tip Roast and roasted cabbage, red onion, and potatoes for dinner. It was relaxing to give myself over to a task that didn't involve low grade anxiety about forgetting something. 

Three Beautiful Things 12-01-2024: More Bonus Time with Misty, Patrick Secures the Pet Gate, Superb Leftovers

1. So, on Saturday, Misty had to cancel her flight to Seattle and we very much enjoyed our bonus time with her at our house on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. We continued to get even better acquainted and we all seemed to enjoy each other more and more the longer we spent time together. 

Christy came over after church and also enjoyed some bonus time with Misty. Misty is a Native Alaskan and Christy taught for many years in Inchelium on the Colville Reservation and she shared some of her experiences with Misty and showed her pictures of Native community related projects her students worked on. Misty also told Christy about her social justice work with the non-profit organization, Native Movement (nativemovement.org). Misty is on Native Movement's Administrative Team, serving as the Creative Space Lead. 

2. Patrick and Meagan, as scheduled, drove back home to Portland early this afternoon and also drove Misty back to the airport -- where everything worked out pretty well. Yes, her flight was delayed a bit, but she made it to Seattle in time to catch her connecting flight back to Fairbanks. 

Before leaving, Patrick finished a project for us that he started Saturday evening. 

The screws securing the gate we have up that keeps Gibbs from chasing Copper came out of the wall and Patrick moved the screws to the wooden trim where we are confident the screws won't come loose. 

It's a great help having this gate fully operational again -- in his own way, Copper especially appreciates it.

3. We had Cornish game hen pieces and wild rice dressing left over from Thanksgiving dinner and Debbie combined them into a wildly delicious dinner dish. Christy's dressing aged really well over the weekend and the chicken remained tender, moist, and flavorful. It was fun tonight to feel like Thanksgiving had, indeed, extended all the way from Thursday to Sunday.  

Three Beautiful Things 11-30-2024: Bonus Time with Misty, The Others Visit The Lounge, I Fix a Stir Fry

1. I'm not going to get into it, and it had nothing to do with the airlines, but thanks to a harmless snafu, we got to have Misty stay with us an extra day and we took full advantage of her extended visit with more fun yakkin' and laughter together.

2. Debbie, Misty, Patrick, and Meagan spent about an hour at The Lounge, introducing Misty to our favorite spot in Kellogg. (I would have gone up, but I'm under instruction to be cautious with places where people smoke cigarettes -- smokers exhaling smoke has the potential to broadcast contagions more widely. I could have worn a mask, but I would have been taking it off and putting it back on to drink my water or soda or whatever.)

3. I took full advantage of the others going uptown by preparing a chicken stir fry with a wide variety of vegetables, left over spaghetti from last night, and a homemade stir fry sauce, a dinner we all enjoyed a lot.